The Roman Monetary System
The Eastern Provinces from the First to the Third Century AD

A comprehensive study of the Roman monetary system in the Eastern provinces during the Principate.

Constantina Katsari (Author)

9781107526563, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 11 June 2015

316 pages, 43 tables
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.48 kg

The Roman monetary system was highly complex. It involved official Roman coins in both silver and bronze, which some provinces produced while others imported them from mints in Rome and elsewhere, as well as, in the East, a range of civic coinages. This is a comprehensive study of the workings of the system in the Eastern provinces from the Augustan period to the third century AD, when the Roman Empire suffered a monetary and economic crisis. The Eastern provinces exemplify the full complexity of the system, but comparisons are made with evidence from the Western provinces as well as with appropriate case studies from other historical times and places. The book will be essential for all Roman historians and numismatists and of interest to a broader range of historians of economics and finance.

Framing the Roman monetary system: an introduction
1. Statistics and numismatics
2. Planning the financial policy of the Roman state
3. Trimetallism and bimetallic laws
4. The application of the quantity theory of money on third-century economics
5. Roman monetary integration
6. Micro-economies
7. Metallism vs chartalism
Appendix 1. The inscription of Mylasa
Appendix 2. Excavation finds, coin hoards and museums bibliography.

Subject Areas: Coins, banknotes, medals, seals [numismatics WCF], Economic history [KCZ], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]